The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is investigating whether a $33,900 watch Jay Z gave to client Robinson Cano for his birthday violated a rule that bars agents from giving lavish gifts to players to entice them to join their agencies.
The MLBPA discovered that “Jay Z attended a birthday party for one of his clients Robinson Cano in Belgium on October 22”:
And while in attendance at that party, Jay gave Cano–who was the first major athlete to sign to his Roc Nation Sports agency earlier this year–the $33,900 Shawn Carter Classic Fusion watch by Hublot that you see above. It was a nice gift, but it also may have been an illegal gift. That’s because the Players Association does not allow agents to give expensive gifts to players in order to entice them to either sign a deal with them or continue allowing the agent to represent them.
“No Player Agent or Applicant shall provide, cause to be provided or promise to provide, any money or any other thing of value to any player, or any person related to or associated with such player, the purpose of which is to induce or encourage such player to use or continue to use any person’s or firm’s services as a Player Agent, Representative, or Draft Advisor,” a clause within the MLBPA regulations says.
According to Complex, Jay Z could have reportedly “made things a whole lot easier on himself by simply telling the MLBPA that he was planning on giving Cano the watch (the MLBPA asks that agents inform them of any gift worth more than $500 that they give to clients), and “because Cano is already his client, it likely would have been allowed.”
But since Jay Z did not do that, he is being investigated.
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